A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, has issued a press statement today in defence of pro-life pavement-counsellors, under attack by the BBC:

London, 30 September 2015: BBC journalists have revealed that they are planning to join the attack on pro-life pavement-counsellors who operate peacefully and lawfully outside abortion businesses. The BBC have said that they intend broadcasting this item today (Wed 30 September). Pro-life pavement-counsellors offer pregnant women help to avoid abortions. A campaign to prevent women receiving such help was launched by a major commercial abortion provider earlier this year. Prayer-vigils, which often involve only small numbers of people, are dubbed “protests” by the BBC and pro-abortion campaigners.

At one point the BBC said there had been allegations of women being assaulted, and asked a pregnancy support group: "Would you like to condemn assault?".

Commenting, Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk said: "The unprofessional behaviour of the BBC betrays a clear one-sided agenda. Asking people to disown violence which the pro-life life movement has have never espoused or practised is like the devious lawyer's question: 'Have you stopped beating your wife?' Pavement-counsellors provide help to women facing such problems as abusive partners and homelessness, problems which abortion providers simply don't address.

"The BBC says it has seen a report about pavement-counsellors based on abortion clinic records. Abortion clinics lose an average of about £600 each time a woman chooses to keep her baby, so they are hardly an impartial source of data. This is only one half of the story. Hundreds of women find the help, sympathy and support they need to continue their pregnancies from pro-lifers outside abortion clinics. Despite being offered information about these women, the BBC has refused to report their perspective.

"The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) campaigns for the right to life of the unborn to be upheld in law, and we do not run pavement-counselling activities, but we recognise the great work that groups like Good Counsel Network, 40 Days for Life and the Helpers of God's Precious Infants undertake outside many abortion centres to help women and babies", concluded Mr Tully.

Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk can be contacted on mobile 07939 178719, landline 020 7820 3127, email paultully@spuc.org.uk

Friday, 25 September 2015

Congratulations to SPUC's tens of thousands of supporters, to pro-life leaders and colleagues in other organisations, and to Catholic leaders in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland on the overwhelming defeat of assisted suicide legislative proposals brought forward by Rob Marris MP.

Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, explains:

The Bill was defeated on 11 September by a very substantial margin. The vote was reported as 118 for the bill, 330 against. One MP, Dr Rupa Huq, voted in both lobbies – effectively an abstention. Given that two tellers are appointed on each side for the division, the most precise indication of voting on the bill therefore is 119 for, 331 against, 1 “abstention”.

As there are now 650 seats in the House of Commons, the 331 MPs opposing the bill represents an overall majority (51%) of MPs. The proportion of MPs voting (almost 70%) reflects the depth of interest in the debate, and the strength of the majority is of course very decisive.

Among many outstanding speeches against the bill, Dr Philippa Whitford MP, a breast cancer surgeon, said: "I have never considered as a doctor that death was a good treatment for anything".

Other notable speeches against the bill included those by Jonathan Reynolds (Labour, Stalybridge & Hyde) and Dr Philippa Whitford (SNP, Central Ayrshire). David Cameron's opposition to the bill may have been a significant factor for some conservative MPs who voted against the bill. The front bench speeches, which are made at the conclusion of any debate, were surprisingly partisan. The opposition spokesman (Andy Slaughter) supported the bill and the government minister (Mike Penning, the Justice minister), while saying that the government did not hold a position on the bill, expressed his opposition to it on a personal level. Usually, on a free-vote issue, front-bench spokesmen would not express such explicit personal views.

The effectiveness of the campaign may be attributed to the fact that it was a strongly united effort, in which we all supported each others' endeavours, involving:

SPUC sent a special mailing to our 20,000 most active members, as well as various other mailings to key groups. As a result of our mailings, electronic alerts and website campaigning, approximately 27,500 briefings on the Bill were ordered and hundreds of supporters informed us about the voting intentions of hundreds of MPs. Readers of SPUC's Pro-Life Times, which has a circulation of 110,000, also opposed the Bill. Many supporters will have received similar messages about contacting their MP from a number of groups. MPs were getting the same message from a variety of constituents: vote against the bill. Faith leaders spoke out against the bill (in particular Catholic leaders from both Britain and Northern Ireland) and events such as vigils to encourage prayer for protection against the bill were organised in some places.

"This was an important victory for true compassion. It is a vote of affirmation for all those healthcare staff looking after terminally ill people. It will be a great relief to those with disabilities, chronic conditions and degenerative illnesses. The threat to them has been averted for now.....

"It is important to recognise that the defeat of the bill does not mean that people in severe pain will suffer more – in fact the bill included no mention of pain. Palliative care specialists can nearly always provide effective pain relief, even for very severe pain, and this is rarely cited as a reason for contemplating suicide."

In other words, we must not rest on our laurels. Contact me to find out how you can help to continue the campaign against assisted suicide. And for SPUC's part, we remain absolutely committed to building a united effort between pro-life groups and church leaders with a view to achieving further victories in the future.

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Antonia Tully of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children reports on a mass rally in Warsaw of Polish parents who want to protect their children from corrupting sex education

The Polish government has backtracked on introducing explicit sex education into the nation's schools after parents started to mobilise. Polish parents gathered in Warsaw in their thousands last Sunday to protest against proposed changes to the current pro-family school subject WDZ (Family Life Education).

A coalition of 26 pro-family groups came together to oppose changes to WDZ, announced on 9 July by Education Minister, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska. Polish family groups want to keep WDZ as it is. "Upbringing for Family Life" is a more literal translation of the Polish and, say the family groups, expresses the good values which currently underpin the subject, which prepares young people for marriage and family life.

Before the rally took place, Ms Kluzik-Rostkowska told the pro-family coalition to "stop misleading parents"; that the government is "not introducing WHO standards" and that "work on changing the WDZ curriculum hasn’t started yet", (emphasis added).” However, Polish parents have not been pacified by the Education Minister and are under no illusion that their children remain at risk.

Ministry officials from the education department have already met with LGBT activists to talk about introducing so-called "anti-discrimination" education. As elsewhere in the world, education claiming to tackle discrimination is a smokescreen for introducing teaching programmes which promote contraception, abortion, premature sexual intercourse and homosexuality. This, say the family campaigners, is destroying young people for family life.

The coalition of family groups came together under the leadership of Magdalena Trowanowska, who has been running a campaign to protect Polish children from sexualisation in the classroom for the past two years. She has a website - stop-seksualizacji.pl - and organises local campaigns around Poland to raise awareness among of the sex education menace.

Polish parents are staying on their guard as the gender lobby pushes forward with a conference scheduled for 10 September convened by the Equalities Minister on the theme of "Gender in Text Books". Other participants in this event are the research group which produced a report with the conference title and the Feminoteka Foundation, which is behind the "Equality in Nursery Schools" project in which pre-school children act and dress up in clothes of the opposite sex.

Estimates put the number of people supporting the rally, "Stop! Deprawacji Edukacji" ("Stop! Corruption Education"), at around 14,000. The organisers counted 140 coaches which brought in people from all parts of Poland.

The pro-family demonstration in Warsaw began with the Holy Mass, during which there was a re-enactment of St John Paul ll's dedication of the world to Divine Mercy in 2000. The church was packed and hundreds more knelt outside. It certainly was an inspiring sight to see so many families with their children, coming together to make a powerful statement to protect their children.

I was privileged to share a platform with expert speakers from Poland, France, Germany and Italy. My main message to Polish parents was to resist school sex education right now.

I also spoke of a "revolution of parents". I told the rally about UK parents whose opposition to compulsory school sex education in British schools has resulted in a government report, published in July 2015, which confirmed that sex education would remain a non-compulsory school subject. We achieved this despite huge pressure for change from the powerful, government-funded sex education lobby.

In the ever-present shadow cast over Poland by St John Paul ll, I asked Polish families to continue to uphold the values we have lost in western Europe. All eyes were on Poland on 16 October 1978. We are looking to Poland now.

The rally was covered on Sunday 30 August on the 6pm national news and included Antonia talking about the damaging sex education in UK schools. (See picture above)

The picture to the right shows the vast rally protesting against World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of sex education being introduced into Polish schools. WHO standards advocate, among other things, sexual rights for children and sexual experimentation in young people.

John Smeaton

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to SPUC's staff, supporters and advisers for their help to me in researching, writing and producing this blog.

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